Excerpt from FAM Govt Report
Changes to the Training
Curriculum Helped
Expedite Deployment
To deploy the requisite number of air marshals by the Deputy Secretary’s
July 2002 deadline, the Service revised and abbreviated its training
program. From October 2001 through July 2002, it modified the air marshal
curriculum incrementally, eventually reducing the original 14-week
program to about 5 weeks for candidates without prior law enforcement
experience and about 1 week for candidates with such experience. The
revised curriculum was designed to provide candidates with the basic law
enforcement knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform their
duties as air marshals, including knowledge of the Service’s rules and
regulations, physical skills, and basic and advanced marksmanship. The
curriculum no longer included certain elements of the original training
program, such as driving skills and cockpit familiarization, because these
were not deemed critical for air marshals to perform their duties. The
curriculum also eliminated a 1-week’s visit to an airline and some
instruction in the Service’s policies and procedures, which was to be
provided on the job.
Moreover, although the curriculum retained
instruction in both basic and advanced marksmanship, air marshal
candidates no longer had to pass an advanced marksmanship test to qualify for employment.
Candidates were still required to pass a basic test 13
with a minimum score of 255 out of a possible 300—the highest
qualification standard for any federal law enforcement agency, according
to the Service.
To provide all the newly hired air marshals with needed skills, beyond the
basic abilities the Service determined were critical for immediate
deployment, the Service instituted a new 4-week advanced training course
in October 2002. All air marshals hired from October 2001 through July
2002, regardless of their previous law enforcement experience, were
required to complete the course by January 2004. This course includes
some elements, such as emergency evacuation and flight simulator
training, that the Service did not include in the 5-week course because,
although it considered the elements important for air marshals to carry out
their mission, it did not consider them critical for immediate deployment.
In addition, the course provides further training in advanced
marksmanship skills. Air marshals hired after August 2002 attend this
advanced training course after completing their basic training. The Service
has developed a centralized tracking system to ensure that all air marshals
take this course.
Although the Service is now providing additional marksmanship training, its decision not to restore the advanced marksmanship test
14 as a qualification standard for employment has proved controversial.
Passing this test would require candidates to demonstrate their speed and
accuracy in a confined environment similar to the environment on board
an aircraft.
The DOT IG’s report suggested that the Service needed to
adopt a firearms qualification standard that was more stringent and
comprehensive than the basic firearms qualifying test. The Service
disagreed, emphasizing that its minimum score is the most stringent in
federal law enforcement and adding that its 4-week course provides
further training in advanced firearms skills. Our review of the Service’s
documentation confirmed that instruction in advanced marksmanship is a
critical part of this training, even though passing this element is no longer
a condition of employment.
In August 2003, the Service reported that proposed cutbacks in its training
funds would require it to extend the date for all air marshals hired fromOctober 2001 through July 2002 to complete the 4-week advanced course
from January 2004 to mid-2004. According to DHS, the Service’s transfer to
ICE will not adversely affect either the funding for air marshals’ training or
the schedule for newly hired air marshals to complete the 4-week training
course, since a total of $626.4 million is being transferred from TSA to ICE.
While this funding exceeds the $545 million that the Service received for
fiscal year 2003, it is not clear how much of the funding will be allocated
for training. Given the importance of training to ensure that air marshals
are prepared to carry out their mission, we believe that maintaining
adequate funding for training should remain a priority. Additionally,
should reductions in the funding for training be required, our recent work
on strategic training and development efforts provides alternatives that an
agency can consider to across-the-board cuts—such as evaluating training
needs, setting training priorities, developing alternative training
requirement scenarios, and determining how much funding each of these
scenarios would require. Our work further suggests that it is important
for agencies to ensure that their training and development efforts are cost
effective, given the anticipated benefits and to incorporate measures that
can be used to demonstrate contributions that training and development
programs make to improve results. These principles are applicable at all
times, but especially when funds are limited. Determining whether air
marshals with prior law enforcement experience have the same training
needs as those without such experience could help set cost-effective
training priorities.
We found that a cornerstone of human capital management is the ability to
successfully acquire, develop, and retain talent. Investing in and enhancing
the value of employees through training and development is a crucial part
of addressing this challenge. This investment can include not only formal
and on-the-job-training but also other opportunities, such as rotational
assignments. Our work further specifies that agencies should link their
training curriculum to the competencies needed for them to accomplish
their mission. The Service has begun developing a formal training
curriculum beyond the basic and advanced training courses described
above.
This curriculum requires air marshals to participate in 5 days of
recurrent training each quarter that, in addition to the quarterly weapons
qualification, includes training in advanced firearms, operational tactics,
defensive tactics, surveillance detection, emergency medicine, physical
fitness, and legal and administrative elements. Additionally, the Service is
developing rotational assignments for air marshals that allow them to
participate in law enforcement task forces, as well as fill a variety of
operational and training positions in headquarters and the field. The
Service recognizes that such opportunities can not only enhance
professional development but also help to prevent problems such as
boredom and burnout. According to the Secretary of Homeland Security,
one of the advantages of the Service’s transfer to ICE is that it will
enhance air marshals’ professional development opportunities.
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